Wanted: crystal house and council estate

Do you own a building which you might not mind being covered in copper sulphate crystals to see what happens? Do you live on a council estate and want to be part of a feature-length film?

These questions are being posed by two artists who are today named as the first recipients of money from a new £1m art commissioning fund.

The Jerwood/Artangel Open was announced last year with the aim of artistically transforming sites and situations across the UK. It attracted more than 800 proposals, and the winners are today named as film-maker Clio Barnard and sculptor Roger Hiorns, chosen by a panel which included the artists Jeremy Deller and Shirin Neshat and theatre director Emma Rice.

Barnard, who has won acclaim for films including Road Race, about the secret Gypsy horse races on motorways, plans to work with residents from an English council estate to make a feature-length film using two dramatically contrasting locations.

Hiorns is best known for covering surfaces and objects with copper sulphate crystals and allowing them to grow. He said the use of crystallisation meant he could not make any decisions once the process had started. "It does its own thing - it's like I don't have to exist, the work is creating itself."

Roanne Dods, director of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, said: "Our panel had a tough job. They chose wisely - these commissions will be thrilling."